My dear fellow travelers in the Path,

The showers of divine grace imperienced makes us mute and we should with wisdom maintain the silence and keep our communion with the Lord. When I try to contemplate on the condition of intimacy with the divine so kindly blessed to us this day the thought of Purity overwhelms me. Purity in the beginning, purity in the middle and purity in the end if there is an end is all that I can describe. Our Master Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj has graphically described our normal condition as being one in a spider's web. Our problem is how to come out of this web. Master has suggested some methods for purifying ourselves and be rid of the mesh into which we got wired. As a rule we think that we are walking, talking, sitting or interacting with others. But the fact is that we are always in the web physically and the prana sarira alone provides all the power that we need for such a supposed existence. It is to be clearly understood that our thoughts and ideas are not our real self and the reality is that we are submerged in the mesh unable to wriggle out.

The creation of God has purity of intention and purity of expression as its warp and woof. But human creation has self centered intention and self centered expression as its two coordinates. We think that the mesh or the web is the reality; the moment we realise this we have means to get out of the web and we understand our true nature. Our individual creation then starts getting destroyed and we start living in the creation of God and our intentions and expressions become purer and simpler by the day. When develop perfect purity in our intentions and expressions we are said to be enlightened.

The web into which we got entangled it is obvious covers a wide range of planes from the Annamaya kosa to Anandamaya kosa. Within this web are the countless thoughts and emotions based on lack of security and fear which we are conditioned to accept as limitations that are formidable. Our entire period of schooling taught us that we have very little power. Even that little power that we become aware of, we are advised to delegate to such persons and institutions who somehow claim to know more about us than we do! In short we are swimming in a negative environment and make our web more dark and wriggled.

Anyone who blindly accepts these prevalent, negative thoughts will have his or her life path dictated by the web. But those who recognize that it is our collective thoughts and beliefs that power the web will recognize the way out. This principle alone governs the logic of purification in this system of sadhana. When we are born, we temporarily forget the higher truth of who we are. Our life mission is to remember and to connect with our innermost self, so that we may transcend the web. Master has made a very positive statement when he said that we are all sailing towards our Homeland. Many of us who may not be specifically focused on the Homeland however recognize the need for a change in the manner in which we live.

There is a general awareness that the reality we perceive with our senses is not the true reality, but merely a small portion of reality, masquerading as the whole. But, there is no alternative reality to which we can run and in fact there is no need to rebel against this reality. Our goal should be to "be in this world, but not of it." Those who are sensitive understand that the outer world is a reflection of our inner thoughts and beliefs, whether individual or collective, which have been conditioned by our experience in the web. Consequently, the web is a learning environment where we get feedback on how our thoughts manifest. The grace of God is such that as a rule our negative thoughts do not manifest instantaneously. Otherwise, we would risk the spontaneous destruction of our world by our unfortunate habit of thinking negative thoughts. However this does not permit any one to breed scorpions and snakes of thoughts. We should invariably and if possible incessantly think in such a way that some good happens due to our thoughts. That is we need to breed pure, pious and divine thoughts always.

Cleaning or purifying ourselves of negative energies through daily meditation and purificatory sessions can provide a direct link to the "ultimate reality," i.e., the pure consciousness residing within each of us. As our negative beliefs are purified through regular contact with the "light" of our divine nature, unhealthy emotions, such as fear, hate and anger, will naturally begin to diminish, and we will be free to transcend to higher states of consciousness. We will have the descending grace of the Master more and more such that our true self start vibrating in the higher planes of consciousness, while simultaneously and automatically attracting others of similar vibration. Our world will become more synchronistic with the divine. We will naturally repel angry, fearful people, and those who stick around will become calmer and more centered. We will radiate love. By simply being in consciousness governed by purity, we will have a greater effect on the world than the most gifted orators and political leaders.

The higher and purer the consciousness in which we live and our energies vibrate the quicker and sooner our thoughts will manifest. This is the basis of Pranahuti. Pranahuti offered with purity of intention and 'Will' enables the recipient to move out of darker spheres of consciousness in which he happens to be. It is to be noted that when we align with our innermost self, which is simple purity, we get aligned more closely with the Master. At the apex of our individual consciousness, we then get connected with Master. We then have at our disposal the entire universe to help us manifest the highest good for all. That is what we call living in Brahmand mandal.

The purity of intention and 'Will' has a direct bearing on our capacity to distinguish between our thought and the thought of the inner self or conscience. It is a well known fact that the ability to think is a God-given gift to the human beings. During our meditations in the beginning and as we progress later in-day-to-day life we learn to tap the inner core of our being or Master and also learn to interpret the intuitions that arise. However the tricky part of this feature is our capacity to distinguish between the voice of the Master and the voice of our ego. As persons practicing PAM we do not fall into the pit of confusing our ego with our conscience; yet we may falter often. We many times err thinking that our problems and enemies are outside ourselves and vow to overcome them. But the truth is everything we perceive in the world is just the outer reflection of our inner thoughts. The ultimate war is within us.

The ego is an insulation we have created for ourselves and a close knit thought pattern resembling the thick weaving inside the web near the core center and is essentially designed to protect us from potential harm to our awareness of being. As our focus increases towards it, it grows and our attention span is entirely covered by it. It is not necessarily an enemy to know our true nature; but it can be compared to the unruly child who wants what it likes when it likes. The ego which liked to encircle itself with so many strands of various colors and hues tries always to stick to them and any harm to them it considers is dangerous to its existence. But that is precisely what we seek in the path of liberation. Yet the demand for purification that is willed by our conscience tends to get ignored by it and it resorts to all gimmicks of the child to avoid purification. Our individual efforts many times we find are not sufficient and the need for external help becomes paramount.

Even as an undisciplined child, our ego needs to be guided by a competent person in this effort. This is a necessary step in the spiritual path at the stage of surrender where we learn to hear the inner voice of the Master. To talk of surrender without such a capacity to hear the inner-voice of Master is not proper. When we learn to distinguish between the voice of our ego and the voice of the inner Master we have moved considerable length in the path of spirituality. For this purity in body and mind in all aspects is the minimum requirement. Without such a purity we cannot hear the Master within. As a suggestion I may say that when we are busy convincing ourselves that we are right, we should know we are using our mind as a debater. It may be logical but we should know that it is not our highest source of wisdom.

We can know the difference between our voice and that of the Master by noting that the voice of our ego is characterized by being self-centered, self-aggrandizing, based on fear, angry, rationalizing, complaining and reactive. The voice of the Master is always humble, loving, compassionate, peace promoting, trusting, tolerant, merciful, forgiving and grateful. Every day because of our meditational practices and purification procedures we tend to be purer and nearer to the Master and are capable of living according to his directions. When spiritual perfection happens in a person, he cannot think or do anything without the explicit sanction of the Master. Our Master has lived such a life as we all know.

The extent of purification we have been able to achieve can be easily measured by the serious aspirant. Every moment of every day, we make a choice to listen to either our ego or our Master. The more we identify with our Master, the greater our spiritual power and the faster things manifest and we experience greater synchronicities. Ultimately, we merge with our higher self or Master. But it is not all that simple. The game of life is rigged to give our ego the edge. It demands clarity of purpose and total dedication to the Master to change the default setting and listen to the Master within. It is obvious that the best time to be oriented to the subtle and clear voice of the Master is during meditation when our external senses are shut down. I have never considered making an important decision without meditating. It is not wisdom to go the Supermarket without checking our purse. As we learn to hear the voice of the Master and intercommune with him we do not solely rely on our intellect and are capable of the wisdom to make a perfect decision. Another sign that we are listening to the Master within is that the answer we get makes sense in more than one level of understanding. The example of the market that I suggested above is relevant to all the problems we face in life and mutatis mutandis can be applied to all situations and feel the intimate presence of the Master. But I repeat it is purity that matters; purity of intention and purity of expression.

Pranam